FicWad

Chapter One - It's Beginning To Get To Me



Hearing the knock at the door, she arose from her leather chair and with as little confrontation as possible, opened the door to her 2 new clients.

She saw it already.

"Hi, we're here for our 2pm appointment?" The woman addressed her, she had a warm smile but she was trained to know it wasn't fully committal.

"Mr and Mrs Stump!" she smiled at them, holding the door open, she attempted to make them as welcome as possible and they stood a little edgily by her chairs.

"I'm Sue Phillips!" She said confidently, shaking their hands in a non-business like manner.

"Hey..." Mr Stump gestured

"Please sit, please sit!" she encouraged them, noticing that Mrs Stump pulled her chair slightly further away from Mr Stump's.

"How are you both?" and she really did want to know, she needed to know where they're both at, as individuals today.

"Fine."

"Great."

Sue's eyeballs smiled slightly at the barrier like responses.

"Well, why don't you tell me what brings you both here to my office?" because obviously both are not 'fine' and 'great' if they were coming to see her.

They stared at her in silence. Shay seemed reclused, closed body language, lack of eye contact however when she did make eye contact, it was good eye contact. That denotes anxiety.

Patrick was edgy, a nervous foot continued to bob up and down as he tried hard to ignore his frustration and embarrassment at being here.

Silence. It bothers most people. It's human nature to squirm in silence. It took her years to be able to accept silence in her office, but now that she does, she basks in it. Silence allows people to think. Silence allows them to accept. Silence allows them to talk.

Sitting there with her legs crossed , her hands folded neatly over the notebook in her lap waiting. Both squirmed slightly and looked over at each other.

"Well, why don't you tell her," Patrick said sounding slightly annoyed.

This is what you get from silence.

"Me? Why can't you?" Shay asked shaking her head slightly.

"Because I don't think there is a problem. YOU are the one who wanted to see a couple's therapist, so YOU tell her what the problem is," Patrick said raising his voice slightly.

Communication. Distance. Affection.

Shay took a deep sigh and looked up at the therapist.

"I can't communicate with him anymore..." she said quietly.

Can't. Sue wrote down.

Patrick sat back and crossed his arms over his chest. He was going to be a tough one to break. He didn't see a problem, and that was actually the epicentre of the problem.

"What do you think about what Shay said, Patrick?" She asked, observing from his facial expressions that he probably had a few choice words he wished to vocalise.

"Like I said before, I don't see that there is a problem. We've just been busy lately with three kids, my job, my band, so it's only natural that miscommunication occurs, right?" he asked leaning forward slightly.

"So you don't think that communication is the problem?" she asked making sure she understood him.

Kids, job, band she wrote down on her lap board.

"No." he said quietly and sat back again.

"Why does Shay feel she can't communicate with you?" The therapist asked him, watching his give away body language tell her everything she needed to know.

"She's -" he stopped, Sue raised her eyebrows slightly, Shay looked at him from her lowered position.

"She's just making drama, there's no problem. We're wasting your time here." He said shortly.

Sue looked at Shay, looking down into her hands that were placed in her lap. It was obvious that this was breaking her heart.

She'd seen it a million times. You think you've found the love of your life and expect everything to be perfect with no work involved, when the fact of the matter is, love is work; hard work.

"Shay, do you have something you want to say?" she asked wanting to hear more from her, applying her mediation skills with minimal pressure.

It was common for couples to talk through a therapist in order to get their point across to their spouse.


"You don't think there's a problem?" Shay said uncomfortably, looking at her husband.

It was also common for them to confront issues they wouldn't normally address if they were on their own.

"None that any other normal couples don't have!" Patrick said interrupting Shay and sounding rather annoyed.

"Patrick, don't you think that if Shay feels like she can't communicate with you and since Shay is one part of this relationship, that it is actually a problem, even if you don't think it is?" she inquired calmly.

Patrick just stared at Sue, not saying a word. He was going to be a tough one to break.

"I should have known," he mumbled.

"What would that be?" she asked amused by his child-like behavior.

"You are taking her side because you are female. You girls all stick together," he said back.

She wasn't shocked by this response. It was quite common. It happened all the time.

"Patrick, I do not intend to take sides and I apologize if I made you feel that way. I only asked the previous question because if you don't think there is a problem, then how can change occur? Let me ask you another question. Do you want to have a more fulfilling relationship with your wife?" she asked slowly hoping he would understand where she was coming from.

"Yeah, of course," he shrugged.

"Then we have a course of action to take," she said sitting back smiling at the both of them.

Patrick looked back at her confused while Shay lifted her head from her lap and looked again at her husband.




Patrick and Shay Stump.
Married for 5 and a half years, three children. Rory who's 7, Aimee, 5, and Natalie, 18 months.
Shay's expectations not being fulfilled. Patrick's expectations overfilled? Unsure if it's communication that's the problem here or a lack of respect for what brought them together in the first place.

Shay's disposition is weaker than that of her husband. I sense an imbalance in the routine of family life judging by the amount of time he is away from home.

I want them to re-establish their connection. Lets take it back to basics.

Also, noted is Patrick's list of challenges to his marriage: Kids, Job and Band. Isn't his band his job? Interesting he noted them as 2 separate problems. I will explore this in our next session.



Sue asked if she could spend a few hours in the family home, see how the interact, meet the children. Upon being welcomed in by Shay, her ears were met with the squeal of Natalie's excitement at being chased by Aimee. Her eyes wandered around the home, it was a beautiful homely place. Warm and spacious and the dinner smelt delicious.

"Rory - Come help me set the table!" Shay called to her oldest son. The dark haired boy flew down the stairs moments later.

"Hey, Mom, Listen, there's a whole bunch of us going to this really cool skate park and Wes's Mom said it was OK I went them - Can I?!" He asked.

"Baby, I dunno, when is it?" she asked, stirring the vegetables in the pan.

"Mommy, can I get a carrot?!" Aimee asked reaching up to the carrot in Shay's hand as she tested it's softness.

"Sure, sweety - careful it's hot!" she said, handing it to her to little girl.

"Can I go Mom?" Rory asked again

"I guess, I'll need to run everything by Wesley's Mom though, you hear?" she asked, Rory nodded and took the knives and forks from his Mom.

Sue smiled as she looked at the kids with their Mom in the kitchen, walking across the huge hall way she noticed Patrick at a huge desk, there was a lot of equipment on it. He was on his phone and had his lap top open. He wrapped up the call and leaned over his chair, whisking up the smallest of his children.

"Hey you..." he said, cuddling her affectionately.

"Nananat!!" She babbled in her loudest voice.

"That is some lungs girl..." he said, pushing her hair off her forehead, she grinned at her Dad and the teeth that caused too many sleepless nights for them, proudly displayed themselves.

She blew a short raspberry which splattered over Patrick's face.

"Natalie!" he whined, wiping his cheek with his hand. Natalie threw her head back and laughed. Her hand went to his cheek and he stared at her.

Before the moment got too deep she made her latest farm yard noise of a pig and slapped Patrick's cheek hard.

"That's nice sweety..." he said.


"Dinner's ready...." Shay said softly from Sue's side, Patrick stood up from his desk with Natalie in his arms and came through to the Dining room.


Dinner time was noisy and eventful, food was grossly misplaced and arguments ensued between Rory and Aimee. However, it wasn't unruly.




Homelife is busy but not untoward. The roles of Mom and Dad are heavily outbalanced. Shay tends to all 3 children as well as the family needs. Communication between them during dinner time was fairly non-existent and my concerns lie with how the children will be picking up on this.

I'm dealing with 2 laid back characters here and to drive in assertiveness may worsen this situation. They both reason well, I will continue to use this method.

The priority, Patrick and Shay time. Alone.



Shay wandered downstairs in her underwear and a robe, she rested gently against the door of the living room and saw Patrick on his laptop.

"You coming to bed?" She asked, he didn't even look up from his laptop, seeing the effort she'd made that night.

"In a while sweety.." he replied. She stood a little longer, he still didn't look up.

Shay slowly ascended the stairs and crept into bed, failing to find comfort in the sanctuary of her sheets that night.

'I don't even know if he loves me anymore...' she said in her head, before forcing her eyes shut.


He came to bed not too long after, she awoke as his careless entry into the bed, rocked her out of the trance she was in. His head flopped onto the pillow and within seconds he was asleep.

Shay turned over and faced him, she touched his soft hair and stared at him. Leaning over she kissed his forehead.

"Night night baby." She said softly, stroking his hair more.